Almighty painter

Chapter 142 Market Research and Postcard Peripherals
After receiving a call from the supervisor, Osborne, who had already walked to the underground parking lot after get off work, immediately decided to return to the company.

He didn't come to the Ministry of Internal Affairs alone, and met the company's President Hill on the way.

President Hill is the top person in charge of the European region.

Osborn is considered half a superior, but he is basically in charge of different businesses, and there is still a certain degree of competition in the future competition for the head of the entire tens of billions of Scholastic Group.

Director Charlie is Hill's direct descendant.

Not surprisingly, both of them should have come here for the investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
When they met, they just greeted each other with a simple smile, and walked into the office area of ​​the Ministry of Internal Affairs side by side with their respective secretaries and assistants like two distinct armies.

"Detective Cat draws very well, is your conscience right?"

As soon as they reached the door, they heard Charlie's mocking voice.

"Mr. Charlie, the sample draft of Detective Cat has passed your own review by the art department. What do you call it now?" Osborn opened the door and said with a smile.

"Bullshit! I didn't review it again." Charlie said angrily.

"Why, the deputy director of Schubert is not counted as a member of the art department? Or, the art department of the group has become yours, Charlie. Only you can review manuscripts? What kind of rule is this?"

The smile on Osborne's face disappeared, and his tone was harsh.

"Okay, okay, director Charlie is also concerned about the quality of illustrators for major projects for better market sales, which is the job of the art director itself, so it's understandable." President Hill smoothed things over for his subordinates.

"When it comes to artistic quality, Vice President Schubert has given a professional judgment. When it comes to rules and regulations, have you found out that Assistant Cole has violated discipline?"

Osborn turned his head and asked the person in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The person in charge held the intercom phone on the table and said a few words.

From the moment the fat assistant was brought to the Home Office, his work computer had already been confiscated.

The group's technical department will check the work information in the download, such as emails with the "Little Prince" project and the manager of Detective Cat.

From the current point of view, apart from the fact that there was only a few seconds of time difference between the time when the assistant submitted the sample to the art department and someone in the art department took the file away, this seemed to be collusion.

Nothing else was found.

"Technical personnel are still checking more in-depth content, and will notify you if there are subsequent discoveries."

The person in charge glanced at the fat assistant's still sweat-stained face, and said, "It looks OK now."

According to his intuition, the person in charge still thinks there is a problem with this matter.

However, if someone is selling trade secrets to a rival company, those responsible may be serious about it.He didn't bother to delve into this kind of fairy fight, which was obviously high-level office politics.

"In this case, the investigation is over. Assistant Cole, Deputy Director Schubert, you can go." Osborne snapped his fingers quickly.

"Stop, stop, they can't leave. This matter is endless, who said that the artistic level is no problem!"

Charlie yelled.

Isn't it funny that this matter can end so easily.

"I think Deputy Director Schubert made a wrong judgment due to personal negligence, and his judgment on Detective Cat cannot be regarded as a correct evaluation."

"What do you want to do? The contract is signed, and the sample draft can be re-examined." Osborne frowned.

"I don't really have any objections to letting a third-party art appraisal agency review it." Schubert stared into Charlie's eyes.

Discussing the level of Detective Cat's draft drawing alone, he is not guilty at all.

"Third-party audit? No... There is a better way." Charlie chewed his cigar with a sly look.

He is also unwilling to engage in any art appraisal.

Not only is there no precedent for this, but artistry is a flimsy thing. Even if Detective Cat is identified as unqualified, so what.

Osborne and Schubert also had excuses to tell the difference.

Charlie hoped to use a simpler, more convincing statement to crucify these hateful guys together with Detective Cat on the pillar of shame.

He wants to completely destroy the reputation of this internet illustrator.

"Since you are optimistic about Detective Cat, how about asking her to submit a cover draft, and asking the original Wehrlein Studio to submit a cover draft, and bind them on blank book covers respectively, how about doing a mock market survey?"

Charlie said confidently: "For illustrators, is there any better way to prove the artistic level than the market? Customers are the best judges."

Mock market research.

After the millennium, it is not a new concept for large business groups, and has formed a very mature model.

A simple simulated market survey is to distribute some questionnaires on the street.

Many of the polls people conducted on Twitter and Weibo, and the questionnaires filled out by their circle of friends, belonged to this category.

Large enterprises, on the other hand, are more serious and professional in their preliminary market research.

Many large-scale projects will cost a lot of money, and professional business consulting companies are hired to hire customers of different ages, races, and social classes to conduct professional market analysis.

Movies have pre-screening meetings, and 3A game masterpieces have A test, B test, and C test.

Publishing companies also have their own way of doing market research.

Small publishing houses may at most hold trial reading sessions, or contact a few book reviewers to see the response of the manuscript.

A business empire like Scholastic needs to be richer and richer.

There is a [bookstore] in the European headquarters building on London's Financial Street where they are now.

From decoration to furnishings, from the design of the window, the chandelier on the ceiling to the pattern on the oak floor.

Everything is modeled after the fit-out specifications of Waterstones, the UK's largest and most visited bookstore chain.

This [bookstore] is not open to the public, nor is it a bookstore.

Everything about it looks like a bookstore, but its real function is a [-]:[-] model experiment field built by the marketing department.

[Bookstore] can meet almost any survey needs related to the physical book market.

Its main design purpose is to provide to group channel providers to evaluate the sales and operation of physical bookstores.

Western bookstores, like coffee shops, are a type of social occasion.

Whether it is the temperature and taste of the freshly ground coffee sold at the bar counter in the store, or the impact of different placements of bookcases on sales for customers of different ages, or whether it is necessary to add children's activity areas in physical bookstores, and male and female couples Ambient Music to Expect on a Bookstore Date…

The marketing department can invite volunteers to design different market research plans according to the different needs of the group.

It is basically not difficult to determine which of the two illustrators' works is more popular.

Simply print several sets of illustration covers from different illustrators, bind them to a blank book model, and place them on the bookshelf.

Then invite [-] volunteers to visit the bookstore, count their choice intentions, and it will be done.

The principle is not complicated, and the investigation is not difficult. It only takes one afternoon.

"I don't agree. Since the contract has been given out, how can it be easily replaced." Osborn frowned. "It doesn't make sense, it's just humiliating others."

"The level of Wehrlein's studio works is justified."

Charlie's neck got stuck, and he didn't even look at Osborn, but turned his attention to President Hill.

"I think... this idea is feasible. Osborne, I know that if you want to promote Detective Cat, you still have to put the interests of the group first. The expected sales target of 30 copies set by the board of directors is under great pressure. An ideal occasion to gild a newcomer, for a book."

What President Hill said seemed pertinent.

He is not a fool, he can hear the bias in his words.Not only does Hill believe market research is imperative, but that Detective Cat has no chance of winning.

Not just President Hill.

Including the onlookers from the internal affairs department and the assistants and secretaries accompanied by the two presidents.After they heard this proposal, most people's inner portrayal was similar.

It's not that they don't like Detective Cat.

But the standard of Wehrlein's studio is far beyond the standard of illustrators in the general sense.

People are afraid of comparison.

If the passing mark for an ordinary illustrator is 30 points, then those with 60 points are regarded as very good illustrators.

The Wehrlein artist may be able to get 85 points and 90 points.

The gap between 90 points and 60 points is as obvious as the gap between 60 points and 30 points.

Ordinary excellent painters will look like bad cheap painters who can't even meet the passing mark when they meet Wehrlein Studio.

This gap will be intuitively reflected in the sales volume,
If you are lucky, the difference may be only a few percentage points, and if you are unlucky, the sales difference is 50.00%, or even doubled. It is not impossible.

There are not too many book products, especially children's books, that are destroyed by garbage illustrations.

Situations similar to the poor "poisonous" illustrations of Dongxia textbooks that have aroused widespread criticism from the society are also common in the European and American book markets where child protection laws are stricter.

Parents will not dare to buy it for their children if a few educational magazines spray you with a few words.

Charlie looked so confident that he was sure of winning, so he didn't notice that the deputy director Schubert beside him had a strange expression at this moment.

Schubert lowered his head and thought about the sample illustrations submitted by Detective Cat in his mind, and then recalled the works of the Wehrlein studio he had seen...

He slightly straightened his back.

You can do it!

As long as Detective Cat can continue to maintain this level, Schubert does not think that the standard of Wehrlein Studio will be higher than that of Detective Cat.

He has great confidence in the artistic level of Detective Cat.

Charlie wants to rely on market research and use the heavy punch of the Wehrlein Studio in his hand to slam the group's confidence in Detective Cat.

in turn.

Isn't this a good opportunity for Detective Cat and him, Schubert?
Not to mention how much fame can be brought to Detective Cat by defeating this old-school studio, Schubert can also gain a firm foothold in the art department.

Schubert's heart skipped a beat. He found that President Osborne was watching him quietly, and immediately nodded quietly.

Osborn was certain in his heart, but he didn't let go.

"I don't agree. Director Charlie's proposal is a bad rule. It is normal for a studio as powerful as Wehrlein to paint better than Detective Cat. There is no precedent for replacing the artist for this reason. The contract has already been signed, Detective Cat's agent. People will not agree to do any more market research.”

"Can you give Detective Mao some more compensation? You can give her a long-term contract, add some bonuses, or split it into an extra two points or something." Hill said lightly, "If she can beat Wehrlein Studio, give her more It’s okay to have some sweetness. If it doesn’t work, it’s a big deal to pay liquidated damages and cancel the contract... I can’t blame others for my incompetence.”

The president doesn't care too much about paying the contract liquidated damages, or giving one or two more points.

To put it bluntly, this is all small money.

The group has at least one billion dollars in revenue every year. Counting IP adaptations, a super bestseller can account for 5% of it, which is great.

Monsters like "Harry Potter" may not be encountered once in decades.

The original version of "The Little Prince" is also one of these monsters, but now that it has sold hundreds of millions of copies, its aura has faded a lot.

One or two percent of sales of one million copies is of course a huge benefit to individual illustrators, but it is a drop in the bucket for the group.

Not to mention the share of hundreds of thousands of US dollars, even if the total sales of "The Little Prince" is expected to be tens of millions of euros in the sales cycle, it may not be a big deal for Scholastic.

What really made President Hill and Osborne so serious.

is the enormous fame that super bestsellers can bring.

For example, how many consecutive weeks can a work produced by Scholastic top the New York Times bestseller list in the North American market.

And whether the new version of "The Little Prince" can be selected into the recommended extracurricular books of various education committees or private schools.

Or even literature textbooks.

Not only can it bring a large amount of stable income every year, but also the benefits of hidden channels and cooperation bridges are all very important to Scholastic.

Selling textbooks is a very big business in Europe and America.

It is normal for a student to spend thousands of dollars a semester on textbooks. If he buys all new books, he might be able to buy a second-hand Mustang sports car from last year after finishing his middle school textbooks.

At the same time, from a personal point of view, being able to produce a super bestseller is also an opportunity to show one's ability to the board of directors.

"Well, colleagues from the marketing department discussed whether "The Little Prince" should be released as a collection book gift box."

President Hill waved his hand to confirm the matter. "Whether Detective Cat or Wehrlein Studio is ahead in the market research, the group will specially produce a set of postcard illustrations for their works as a reward."

The postcard peripherals of books refer to a set of special peripheral postcards or illustration collections that are specially themed with the illustrations in the books when some children’s or cartoon works are published.

Disney's works, or light novels and anime such as "Sword Art Online" and "Attack on Titan", all have such peripherals for sale.

A single volume of light novels of "Sword Art Online" may sell for more than a dozen dollars in North America, and a collector's edition souvenir gift box containing Asuna's illustration book may sell for 60 dollars, or even hundreds of dollars.

This kind of peripheral can not only be placed in the book gift box, but also can be sold separately.

If the book itself is popular, the sales volume is generally not bad, the profit margin is also very high, and it is completely built around the illustrator.

This reward is really exciting.

(End of this chapter)